Yellow Car
by SchwarzePandaKatze
Summary: SwanQueenWeek 2015 AU - Day 1 Meet Cute Regina is late for dinner and needs a cab.
1. Chapter 1

Note:

I want to thank my awesome Girlfriend who lovingly endures my daily rambling about new ideas I have 3

Thanks to Nicole M. F. for correcting this chapter :-)

Yellow Car - Chapter 1

Regina was silently cursing the heavy rain, she had forgotten her umbrella and was running late for a dinner with her mother. The last five minutes she had tried to get a cab, but either they hadn't saw her, in this already dark evening, or they already had passengers inside.

Regina was running down the street with her purse over her head as she caught a glimpse of a yellow car at the sidewalk. Happy to finally get a shelter from the rain, she ran towards the car, opened the co-drivers side and sat on the seat, closing the door behind her.

"89 Charles Street" she said, while getting raindrops off of her purse and her coat.

"What?"

"89 Charles Street" she repeated with a side glance to the driver. It was a young woman, long blonde hair and a very confused look on her face. "Call your headquarters if you don't know the route, but start driving. I'm going to be late for a dinner." Regina grumbled, annoyed.

At the corner of her eye she saw the blonde smiling, without saying anything further, she started the car and hit the road. They didn't drive more than a hundred meters when Regina's cell phone rang.

She sighed as she saw the caller's ID. "Hello Mother."

_"Where are you?"_ she heard the impatient voice of her mother asking.

"I'm on my way, I just got into a cab and I will be there in a few minutes."

_"You should have been here three minutes ago"_ her mother complained.

Regina suppressed another sigh, but started to rub her temple with the hand which didn't hold the phone. Her mother was never really patient or friendly when someone didn't meet up to her expectations. She had learned that the hard way.

"My meeting went longer than expected and I..:" she started to explain, but her mother interrupted her.

_"Excuses, excuses, excuses. Spare me the details, dear." _After that, the only sound Regina was hearing was the disconnected signal. This time, Regina didn't suppress a sigh. Her mother was, to say it friendly, a handful.

"Problems with your mother? Wanna talk about it?" the blonde asked with a smirk on her face.

"Some people may mistake you with a psychologist, but I don't. You are getting paid for driving, not for listening."

"I can do both." The blonde reasoned.

"I don't pay you for…where's your taximeter?" Regina asked confused, looking at the space where the device usually was.

The blonde chuckled. "Broken?"

It was said as a question and it irritated Regina. If the driver didn't even know where her taximeter was, how on earth would she know where to drop her off. "You don't know what happened to it?"

"So, you have some issues with your mother?" the driver asked, but Regina ignored her. "How I'm supposed to pay you if you don't have a taximeter? If you think I will give you more money than you normally get just because you hid your taximeter you are mistaken. **_I_** should get paid to even ride in this car. How can you expect your customers to ride in this messy car? There are bags of junk food in the back! I should call your boss and report this…this… barbarous condition."

She didn't expect the laughter that came from beside. "Your mood is even worse than the weather outside." the blonde said between her laughter.

Regina raised both of her eyebrows. "Now you're insulting your passenger?"

"Just trying to warm up to you." the blonde said while looking at her and winked.

"Eyes on the road." Regina instructed. She heard another chuckle from the blonde, but heard no further remarks or got any more side glances. They drove in silence for only a minute, the car had turned onto Charles Street and the driver slowed down the car in order to see the numbers.

"You have to drive forward at least for three or four crossroads." Regina said slightly annoyed "you're not very good at your job, you should consider a change."

But nothing Regina said seemed to ruin the sunny nature of the blonde, she just kept smiling whatever unpleasant sentence Regina said.

"You can pull over here." Regina said while pointing towards an empty space. As soon as the car stopped Regina questioned "How much do you get?" Mentally preparing for an outrageous number.

The blonde scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Regina. "What's this?" she asked, but the moment she hold the piece of paper in her hand she saw the phone number written on it and a Name: Emma Swan.

"Why would I need your phone number?"

"So you can call me and invite me for coffee or dinner or something else." The blonde said with a gorgeous smile.

Regina let out a dry laugh. "And why would I do that?" The blonde raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something, but Regina cut her off before she could even start to talk.

"You are lucky I don't call your boss and tell him about your uncomfortable car and your incorrect behavior. See my generous attitude for not getting you fired as payment." With that she slipped out of the car without sparing another glance to the driver.

She heard the blonde calling after her. "Just so you know, this is not a cab."

Regina turned around right after she was standing safe under the roof of the restaurant. She stared back at the yellow car, which had already started moving. Regina's knee almost gave in as she indeed saw that the car was not a cab. She had driven with a total stranger. A stranger who was nice enough to drive her through the city, despite the insults she had thrown toward her. At least she now knew why the blonde had laughed about all the job insults she had said.

Regina glanced at the piece of paper in her hand. She needed to do better than just a coffee to apologize to Emma Swan.


	2. Chapter 2

Yellow Car - Chapter 2

Emma was stamping angrily towards the subway station. She couldn't use her beloved car, because some rich, dumb airhead crashed into her car with her daddy's super rich and pompous car. Emma snorted displeased and looked at her phone. That arrogant bitch was supposed to call her. Since the pompous car was not damaged and Emma didn't have any insurance, they had decided that the arrogant bitch will pay for Emma's bill. Well, Emma had decided. They had exchanged names, numbers and addresses.

Yesterday, right after the towing service took her car to the garage, inspected it and told her the ridiculous amount of money she had to pay, she had called that rich girl but she didn't answer. She had tried to call the whole afternoon and evening and even left a message, but there was no response until now. Even this morning and this afternoon she had tried to call, but there was still no response from this arrogant girl.

The train arrived and Emma got in, it wasn't as crowded as this morning, but there was still no place to sit down, so she was standing. She got more and more frustrated by the thought that she couldn't use her car for a while. She loved her car. Yes it already was an old car when she got it and now it was even older, but Emma liked to call it 'classic' instead of 'old'. It was her first and only car she ever possessed and it accompanied her through a lot. Her yellow little bug would have been accompanied her a few years more if a certain blonde dyed airhead hadn't crashed into her.

Emma stared at her phone again. She would call that airhead again as soon as she would leave the subway and had a signal. After she put her phone back in the pocket of her red leather jacket, she noticed that some guy was bluntly checking her out. She furrowed her brow annoyed. She already had an unpleasant encounter this morning. A guy had grabbed 'unintentionally' her ass. Right, 'unintentionally'. Well she had returned an 'unintentionally' punch between his legs. But she was exhausted from the day and not in the mood for another unpleasant encounter, so she moved to the other end of the wagon.

Several minutes later she left the subway and called the number again. Nobody picked up. Emma growled. She would have to track that girl down in order to get her money to repair her car.

As she walked by a coffee shop she decided she needed a break from this horrible day. She walked empty-handed in and got out with a cinnamon spiced coffee and a bear claw. While she smelled at the nice scent of her coffee, she smiled for the first time since her car went to the garage. There was nothing a tasty cup of coffee and a bear claw couldn't fix.

She walked around a corner and before she could take a bite of her pastry some jackass run into her. Her bear claw hit the dirty ground and most of her coffee landed on her favorite jacket, the rest hit the ground as well. "What the hell?!" cursed Emma.

"Watch your step, woman" the guy said in an unfriendly manner.

"You son of a …" But the guy had already taken off. Emma picked up her now empty coffee cup and dirty pastry and threw it forceful in a nearby trash can. Her anger level had increased exponentially. She looked at her coffee-soaked favorite jacket. "First my car, now my jacket. What's next? Does my apartment go up in flames?" she angrily growled to herself.

In that moment her phone rang.

Emma snatched her phone out of her pocket and glared at the number. Whoever had decided to call, he was the unluckiest person on earth right now. Emma recognized the last two digits on the display. She had called that number a million times the last twenty-four hours.

"Took you forever to finally call." She spit into the phone.

There was a hesitation at the other end. "uhm… I call because of your car…" the woman on the other line sounded confused and almost shy.

She wants to play the shy, innocent girl? Not with Emma Swan. Not in the current mood she was right now. "Was time you called! When are you going to pay me?"

"…I…what?" the woman asked confused.

"You heard me!" Emma countered furious. "You hit my car with your stupid Porsche and now it's damaged. I already left a message with the costs and my bank account."

"I didn't hit…" the woman tried to talk herself out of it.

"YES YOU DID!" Emma was shouting. She saw how the other passerby's looked at her and she lowered her voice a little. "You didn't saw the stop sign and crashed into my car! Stop pretending it wasn't your fault. I had enough of this shit yesterday after the accident! You are going to pay for the repair costs!"

"I think there is a misunderstanding." The woman said calmly.

Somehow the voice was different from yesterday, but people sometimes have a totally different voice over the phone. "There is no misunderstanding. You damaged my car. You pay for it." Emma bristled with anger. She really couldn't stand that rich, I'm-above-everyone-else, arrogant bitch.

There was a chuckle on the other end of the line and Emma's anger grew. "Listen. I think we started off on the wrong foot. I'm…"

But again Emma interrupted the woman. "No, you listen! You pay for the damage you caused or I will pay you a visit." Emma threatens and hangs up. She knew she shouldn't threaten people, but she was too angry to think about the consequences. She loved her bug and she wanted it back. The only person who was standing between her and her bug was this rich airhead. Emma could bet that this woman would carry enough money around in her Gucci bag, to pay the costs immediately.

Before Emma could put her phone back in her pocket a sound signaled her that she got a text message. Emma was still furious, but decided it would be better to know right away what this rich girl had to say. She opened the message.

_Just so you know, I drive a Mercedes Benz ;-)_

Emma's eyes grew wide in shock. No. This couldn't be. She got a feeling why the voice on the other end sounded so familiar. Even the sentence sounded familiar. She closed her eyes while she remembered calling after a certain brunette. _"Just so you know, this is not a cab."_

Emma opened her eyes again and took a deep breath. She intensely looked at the number. The last two digits were the same as the number she had called a million times since yesterday, but the rest... Emma almost fainted. The rest was different. With trembling fingers she recalled the number who had called her. _Don't. Please don't be that brunette woman._

"Hello again." An amused voice greeted her.

And now she recognized the voice. Emma had to lean against the wall of the nearby building otherwise her feet would have given away. Emma's mouth was dry. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. She tried again, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

The woman on the other end took the opportunity and spoke. "Didn't you say you could drive AND listen? Seems to me your listening-qualities are lacking." The woman playfully teased.

"I…I'm…I'm so sorry…" Emma nearly whispered. She coughs to regain a little strength in her voice again. "I'm really, really sorry. This is…I didn't mean to…I thought you were…" Emma stuttered and it seemed like her brain couldn't finish any sentence. She had just yelled at that brunette woman who had mistaken her for a cab driver. Somehow Emma had totally forgotten about the woman. Part of her had thought that the brunette wouldn't call. Well, now she had ruined any slightly possibility of meeting that woman again. Because seriously, there was no way that woman would meet her after she had angrily yelled at her.

There was again a chuckle on the other line. "Bad day?" the woman asked.

"Yeah." Was Emma's weak response. After a moment of silence Emma sadly said "Guess there is no way you are inviting me for coffee now."

"You're right. I won't invite you." The woman said in a serious tone. Emma sighed depressed. Why does she have to be such an idiot? There was this tiny possibility that the brunette would call and invite her and now she had ruined it.

"You have to pay your coffee yourself."

"What?" Did she hear that right? Probably not. She was most likely imagining things. But her grip tightened around her phone and she pressed it even closer to her ear. She had to know if she heard that right.

"I said you have to pay for your own cup of coffee." The brunette repeated herself and Emma thought she could hear the other woman smile through the phone.

"You mean…we are…you still want to meet with me?" Emma hoped she didn't sound too desperate and hopeful.

"Yes." The brunette answered.

Emma laughed relieved. "Sounds great." Emma said between her laughter. She realized that the other woman might think she was crazy so she stopped herself from laughing, but she couldn't hide the wide idiotic smile that was on her face. "Hey we could talk about that dinner with your mom and my car accident."

"Sounds like a horrible idea." The brunette chuckled.

"Maybe." Emma said, still smiling and after a moment of hesitation she said "I still don't know your name."

"Regina. Regina Mills."

"Nice to meet you, Regina. Soooo" She stretched the last word."About that coffee. I know a nice café near Public Garden." Emma said, hoping that she wasn't to straight forward.

"Sounds good. Just send me the address. When do you want to meet?" Regina responded.

Emma spirits lifted and she had the urge to high-five someone. "How about…Saturday? 15:30?" she asked and mentally she already went through her wardrobe to find a suitable dress for the day.

"I'll be there. Maybe we can meet without misunderstandings this time."


End file.
